PRAGMATA was among the most interesting titles shown at Gamescom 2025, as evidenced by Francesco De Meo’s preview published earlier today:
Before Hugh can damage any enemy using any weapon, Dana will first have to hack them to lower their defenses. Hacking is done via some puzzle grids that are generally easy to complete, but that can be a challenge to clear with the attention divided between the minigame and avoiding damage. Once the puzzle has been completed, the enemy will be left defenseless for a short while, allowing Hugh to dispose of it. The hacking minigames promise to become more complex as Hugh discovers new abilities, as it is possible to apply debuffs via some slightly more complex puzzle grids. At the beginning of the demo, handling the two core elements of the combat system felt a little forced, but before long, I was hacking and taking down enemies with ease, all the while having extreme fun.
I also played a bit of the Gamescom 2025 demo and came away equally impressed and looking forward to the release next year. However, just in case you’re among the die-hard Mega Man fans who have been speculating that PRAGMATA could somehow be connected to CAPCOM’s Mega Man franchise, game producer Naoto Oyama has officially killed your dreams in a statement released to VideoGamesChronicle:
Pragmata is not a Mega Man game. It is a completely new game from Capcom. I was actually one of the producers on the Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection as well, so I’m happy to see that people who love Mega Man are passionate about Pragmata too. From my standpoint, it’s nice to see people are being so positive about it.
It always seemed a bit of a stretch to me, but as Oyama said, ultimately it doesn’t matter much as long as Mega Man fans can enjoy it all the same. The single player action/adventure game will be released at some point next year on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X after several delays (PRAGMATA was originally slated for 2022, then 2023, and then again indefinitely until the new 2026 window).
